


Ghost of you

by PandaInTheStars



Series: Lucifer Oneshots [2]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Post-Episode: s03e24 A Devil of My Word, Post-Season/Series 03, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-25 05:38:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17719127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PandaInTheStars/pseuds/PandaInTheStars
Summary: A response to the Tumblr prompt:"After the reveal Chloe is avoiding Lucifer. He misses her and - taking a leaf out of Azrael's book - he starts following her around work invisibly to protect her if necessary. One day Ella sees him 'ghosting' around the precinct and gets upset that Lucifer died and they didn't even notice."





	1. Chapter 1

Ella took one last photograph of the deceased before standing up. She bounced on her toes a little to stretch muscles that were fatigued after spending so much time squatting. She pressed the gallery button on her camera and flicked through the last dozen shots. Cause of death was definitely blunt-force trauma to the back of the head, but there was bruising around the neck. That suggested a non-fatal strangulation attempt. If the victim and the attacker fought, then they might find the attacker’s DNA under the victim’s fingernails.

Ella pulled her attention away from her camera to tell Chloe this – and immediately broke into a wide grin. Chloe was busy examining the alleyway where the victim was found, poking and prodding at the various trash bags and cardboard boxes. And behind her – peering over her shoulder with his hands stuffed in his designer suit pockets – was Lucifer Morningstar, her erstwhile partner.

“Hey buddy!” Ella cried. Both Chloe and Lucifer whipped their heads in Ella’s direction. Ella practically flew across the crime scene, leapt at Lucifer, and wrapped her arms around his torso in a big hug. “We’ve all missed you! Decker here’s been back two weeks. What took you so long?” she asked, looking up at Lucifer as he stumbled slightly under the force of her embrace.

Lucifer, strangely, didn’t reply. He didn’t even give some sarcastic quip about the benefits of personal space. His arms just floundered uselessly at his sides while he looked back and forth between Ella and Chloe, his expression one of pure panic.

Chloe was also looking at Ella strangely. Actually, Chloe was looking at her like she’d just announced she was quitting her day job to become a gogo dancer in Las Vegas. Ella’s grin dropped and she slowly pulled out of the hug. Chloe frowned. “Ella, what are you doing?” she asked. “Who are you talking to?”

Ella laughed nervously. “What are you talking about? I’m just saying hi to Lucifer here.” She gestured at Lucifer, who stood ramrod straight, his eyes wide and unblinking. This was starting to feel uncomfortably familiar. “Cuz he’s here, right? You can see him, _right_?” Ella said, her voice becoming strained.

Chloe’s eyes blew wide and she instantly turned around, scanning the alley – her eyes sliding right past where Lucifer was obviously standing. “Lucifer’s here?” she said quickly and, perhaps, a little nervously. “Where? Ella, where?”

Ella’s eyes flicked between Chloe and Lucifer. Lucifer still wore an aggrieved expression, and he shook his head once, tightly. “Uhhhhhh, nowhere,” Ella said. “Nope. Whoops! Thought I saw him. How crazy is that? I mean, not crazy at all because I’m… not… crazy. Haha! Wow, it’s hot today isn’t it? Man, like, sunspots you know? Weird gamma radiation… messes with your head… anyway, I’m just going to go do some… forensic scientist stuff… over there. Yeah. Good talk. Okay, bye!” And she walked backwards before practically bolting out of the alley.

Ella rounded the corner and slumped against the alley’s opening, breathing hard. Don’t panic, she told herself. This wasn’t Rae-Rae. This had nothing to do with Rae-Rae. She just… really missed Lucifer, and she wanted to see him again, and it really was pretty hot, so–

“Ms. Lopez?” asked a smooth, accented voice next to her ear.

Ella jumped backwards and whipped her hand out, slapping Lucifer’s very REAL and very SOLID arm.

“Well, there’s no need for that,” he said, rubbing the place where she’d slapped him, before fixing the lines of his suit jacket.

“You… you’re not…” Ella said, struggling for words. And then Officer Dwight passed them, carrying a roll of caution tape. “Dwight!” she yelled. He turned in her direction. “Hey, uh… this guy standing next to me. He’s pretty tall, right? What would you say? 6’2”? 6’3”?”

Officer Dwight’s eyes slipped right past Lucifer, just like Chloe’s had. He leaned back and forth, as if he was checking to see whether the man Ella was referring to was behind her. “Uh, which guy, Ella?” he asked.

“Oh, uh, guess he left. Silly me,” said Ella, definitely NOT hysterically. “You just get back to… police business. You know what? I’m not feeling too great. Think I’ll take a break. I’ll see you later.”

She dashed past him, ignoring the officer’s words of condolence, past the line of police cars and out onto the sidewalk.

Then she doubled over, leaning her hands on her knees. She wasn’t going to throw up. Nope. No projectile vomit here, folks. It was all in her head. And maybe that meant she _was_ crazy, but that was better… at least that was better… than Lucifer being…

“Ms. Lopez, I know this might seem strange. Hell, I’m having a hard time understanding it myself. Are _all_ the humans around me immune to my abilities in some way – OOF!” All the air blew out of Lucifer’s lungs as he was once again tackle-hugged by Ella.

“I’m so sorry, Lucifer!” Ella cried, sniffing as tracks of tears began to wend their way down her cheeks. “We’ll figure it out, I swear! When did it happen? How long ago? And none of us even knew!”

Lucifer stared down at Ella, befuddled. “Ms. Lopez, what _are_ you talking about?”

Ella pulled out of the hug and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “Oh, crap… you don’t even know, do you? Okay, well, this might come as a shock. And don’t, like, vanish into the light when I tell you this, okay? I mean, not yet. But you’re… dead.”

Lucifer blinked. “I’m not dead,” he said.

“I know it’s hard to believe but look at the evidence. Chloe can’t see you. Dwight can’t see you. And… I’ve seen ghosts in the past – well, _one_ ghost – and it was exactly like this. But she at least knew she was dead. I didn’t have to convince her or anything.”

Lucifer squinted at Ella. “As interesting as that last piece of information was, Ms. Lopez, I can assure you that I’m not dead. I’m just invisible.”

“Invisible?”

“Yes, invisible. It’s something angels can do. And I am an angel, much as I loathe to admit it.” And then, seeing Ella’s expression, he continued, testily, “By birth. Not by choice. I’ve cut my wings off enough times to prove that, at least. What I don’t understand is why it doesn’t work on _you_.”

Ella’s eyes grew wide and she took a deep, steadying breath. “Ooookaaaaaay. I’m not going to touch the whole ‘cutting off your wings’ thing. Nope, not with a ten foot pole. Not right now, at least. But, if you’re really an angel, and you keep saying you’re the Devil… does that really mean…?”

“Yes, Ms. Lopez. I _am_ the Devil. In the flesh. Satan. Beelzebub. Yadda yadda.”

Ella held up her index finger. “Right, uh. Give me a minute.” Then she took a step back and started walking in a slow, deliberate circle. And then she did a few squats. And a few jumping jacks. Lucifer watched all of this with a raised eyebrow. Finally, she doubled over again, staring at the concrete sidewalk. “Wow,” she said. “Wow, _geez_. Okay, wow.” Then, she looked up at Lucifer, her patented Ella Lopez thousand-watt grin in place. “Oh my God. Oh my _God_.”

“Ms. Lopez?” Lucifer asked, warily.

“This is great!” Ella cried, throwing her hands in the air. “This means it’s all _true_ , right? God? And you? And everything? Holy shit!” And then her grin, if it was possible, seemed to stretch even wider. “Wow. _Literally_ holy shit. Ha!”

“I must say, Ms. Lopez,” Lucifer said, taking a step backward under the weight of Ella’s onslaught of positivity. “You’re taking this remarkably well. Most people are very… disturbed by this knowledge.”

“Are you _kidding_ me?” Ella squeaked. “This is like… finding out that couple you were rooting for in your favorite TV show are finally getting together! Like, _total_ satisfaction.”

“Right, well, when you put it like that…”

“So, wait a minute. Why are you angel-ghosting around Chloe, then? Why not just show up to work like normal?”

“Ah, about that,” Lucifer said, reaching a hand up to rub the back of his neck. “The Detective also recently learned the truth of what I am. Let’s just say… she took it a bit worse than you. I’m supposed to be giving her _space_ , but…” He trailed off and turned to look in the direction of the alley.

“But you want to be around her?” Ella asked, her voice softening.

“I want to _protect her_. Who knows when another crazy psychopath will take a shot at her? I have to… I have to _be there_. Just in case.”

“Aw buddy…” Ella said, pulling Lucifer into their third hug. This time, Lucifer didn’t even freeze up. He just melted into the embrace, as if he was being pressed down by a great weight. “She’ll come around, I know it,” Ella continued. “You and her, you’ve got this _thing_ …”

“I thought we did,” Lucifer mumbled dejectedly.

“I _know_ you do. You just gotta give her some time. And hey, if you want to angel-creep around crime scenes, I won’t let on. Just don’t, like, follow her into the bathroom or anything.”

“Ms. Lopez! I would _never_ –”

“Okay! I got you, bud,” Ella said. She pulled away and raised her hands in surrender. “So… I should probably get back to work. Are you going to be okay?”

Lucifer nodded and stuffed his hands back into his pockets. “I think so, yes,” he said.

“Just give it time?”

“Right. Time. Yes.”

“Cool.” Ella gave Lucifer one more fond pat on the shoulder. “And, just letting you know… Angel? Devil? Doesn’t matter. I’m rooting for you guys.”

“Thank you, Ms. Lopez,” Lucifer said, his voice uncharacteristically vulnerable.

“No problem, dude. And hey, turns out we all have our own guardian angel! Devil, whatever. So, thank _you_.”

And with that, she started walking back to the crime scene – leaving behind a very confused and very happy Devil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be clear, I personally believe invisibility is a power exclusive to Azrael, but this was too good of a prompt to pass up! :D


	2. Chapter 2

A few days later, Ella hunched over her lab’s comparison microscope, sifting through slides of standard hair samples. Totally engrossed, she almost missed Chloe entering the room – and Lucifer carefully slipping through the door behind her before it closed.

“Ella?” asked Chloe.

“Present!” said Ella, looking up and blinking as she adjusted her vision.

Chloe shifted the stack of paperwork in her arms so that it was slightly less in danger of toppling over. “I was wondering if you had anything new on the Alvarez St. case?” Chloe queried, her voice a little more strained than usual.

Ella was very proud of the fact that her eyes only flicked to Lucifer once. Lucifer, to his credit, was doing a decent enough of job of trying-to-be-invisible-while-actually-being-invisible. His hands stuffed in his pockets, he turned his back on Ella and Chloe and started making slow laps of the lab – as if he was an inspector intensely focused on the place’s cleanliness.

Training her eyes on Chloe, Ella offered her a slight smile. “I _do_ actually. I was just about to come talk to you. I was right – forensics _did_ find foreign DNA under the vic’s fingernails. No match yet with anything we found in their apartment, but we’re still running tests. But! I did find this.” She pulled the sample slide out of the microscope’s stage clips and waved it in Chloe’s face. “Dog hair!” she cried, exultantly.

“Barry Hale didn’t own a dog.”

“Exactly! And get this, it was found _underneath_ the foreign blood and skin cells. Pretty wedged in there, too. So unless Barry really went to town petting some dog before he fought his attacker, it’s safe to say–”

“–The dog belonged to the attacker. That’s great, Ella.” Chloe looked down, her lips pursed in thought. “It’s looking more and more like this was a crime of passion. So, we should be looking at someone in Barry’s close circle who owns a dog. Can you tell what species of dog? What color?”

Ella clicked her tongue, considering. “Species will be pretty difficult without a fancier microscope. But I can get on that. All I can say for now is that the dog had coarse, black hair. But I only have one hair to go on. The dog could be other colors as well.”

Chloe nodded. “Okay, thanks Ella. That’s enough to start looking, at least.”

Ella smiled in appreciation. This was usually the point where Chloe would dash out of the lab, eager to follow a new lead. But this time she didn’t. Instead, she paused in front of Ella awkwardly, shifting her weight from her right foot to her left.

Chloe coughed lightly. “Hey, Ella… Could I ask you a… personal question? I’m not sure if it’s entirely, uh, appropriate for work.”

Blinking in surprise, Ella nodded. “Uh, sure, Decker. I’m an open book. But if this is like, uh… a sex thing or something? Maybe save it for Tribe Night.”

“It’s not that,” Choe said hurriedly. “It’s just… you’re… Catholic, right? You’re religious?”

Out of the corner of her eye, Ella saw Lucifer turn around quickly, his eyes wide. Without thinking, she raised her hand to touch her crucifix necklace. “Um, yeah,” she said, trying not to get distracted by Lucifer’s increasingly anxious movements. “What about it?”

Chloe looked intensely uncomfortable. “I actually have a few… questions… about that whole, uh, thing. I was wondering if I could… maybe ask you?”

This time, Ella was unable to stop herself from watching Lucifer pace over to stand at Chloe’s side. His expression was indecipherable. Panic, sure. But also keen interest, nausea, and perhaps a little hope?

Tearing her eyes away, Ella responded, “Uh, sure. But I’m not an expert or anything. I know my own faith. You might have questions I can’t answer.” And then, directing her attention at the suited Devil _literally_ standing at Chloe’s shoulder, she said, pointedly, “ _Maybe_ you should go to the _source_.”

Lucifer waved his hands frantically, eyes wide, his lips mouthing the words ‘ _No no no no no no no!_ ’ at the same time as Chloe said, “You think I should talk to a priest?”

“No!” blurted Ella, upon seeing Lucifer’s offended expression. Realizing she had surprised Chloe with her outburst, she backtracked, “Uh, I mean, well, yeah, sure you could talk to a priest. Of course, you could do that. I just meant, well, you don’t want to go, like, too uber philosophical too quickly, right? You just want to, sort of, stick your toe in at the shallow end, maybe?”

“Yeah, something like that,” said Chloe.

“Then… do you wanna… come to Mass with me on Sunday? Just to check it out.”

Chloe nodded. “I think I’d like that,” she said. Behind her, Lucifer grabbed a notepad and pen off the lab’s table and scribbled something hurriedly. He held the notepad up so that Ella could see it over Chloe’s shoulder. ‘ _No! Bad plan! Terrible!_ ’ it said, with several underlines.

Ella boggled briefly at what that must look like to an outside observer. Would the notepad just be hovering midair?

“Sounds good!” Ella said in a voice that definitely wasn’t shrill.

“Great, I’ll see you then,” said Chloe, her mouth finally crinkling into a small smile. “And, thanks again, Ella.”

“No prob!”

Lucifer set the notebook down before Chloe had a chance to see it as she turned to step out of the lab. Lucifer was about to follow, but Ella reached a hand out and flapped it at him to get his attention. He turned to her. ‘ _No! You, stay!_ ’ she mouthed at him and he pursed his lips in acquiescence. The door closed behind Chloe, and Ella and Lucifer watched through the venetian blinds as she rounded the corner and stepped into the hallway that led to the precinct’s exit.

“Are you sure this whole ‘ghost’ deal is the best way to go about this, dude?” asked Ella, side-eyeing Lucifer with a frown. “Chloe seems pretty shaken up. Maybe if you just _talked_ to her–”

“No,” interrupted Lucifer, holding his palm up. “No, trust me, Ms. Lopez. Last time the Detective and I were face to face… it wasn’t pretty. On either end. Right now the sight of me might push the Detective off a not-so-metaphorical cliff.”

“Whatever you say, man,” said Ella, shrugging. “ _I’m_ just saying that if Chloe is starting to ask questions… If she’s going all ‘detective mode’ on this stuff… She can probably handle it. Looking for answers is kind of the _opposite_ of, oh, I don’t know, _hiding_ from your problems, wouldn’t you say?”

Lucifer sniffed. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, Ms. Lopez.”

Ella rolled her eyes. _Yeah, right_. “Look, you do you, man. I’ll support you. Just, if you ask me? I’d say have a little more faith.”

“ _Faith_ isn’t exactly my wheelhouse, Ms. Lopez. You know that.”

“I mean faith in _Chloe_. She’s made of strong stuff. Sure, sometimes she gets stressed out and uptight, but that’s just ‘cuz she cares super hard about things, you know? I kind of thought… that’s what you like about her.”

Lucifer swallowed once and then nodded. “Yes… well… you’re not… incorrect. Speaking of which, I really should be getting back to the Detective. Who knows what trouble she may have gotten into, now?”

“It’s been, like, two minutes.”

“Yes, exactly,” said Lucifer, pulling at his jacket’s hem in an agitated manner. “Now, would you be so kind as to open the door for me?”

Ella raised an incredulous eyebrow.

This time, Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Never mind. If anyone cares to notice, tell them it was a particularly strong breeze.” And he grasped the lab’s door handle, pulled the door open, and exited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I called this a oneshot, but the response to the last chapter was incredible, and this just sort of... happened, lol. 
> 
> I'm 'starpanda42' on Tumblr, btw. I post random Lucifer stuff and complain about grad school, mostly.


	3. Chapter 3

“…And with your spirit,” Ella and the rest of the congregation intoned, before taking their seats.

At Chloe’s questioning look, Ella leaned over and whispered, “It’s like a call and response thing. It’s okay if you don’t know it.”

Chloe and Ella were seated in one of the back rows of St. Brennan’s. Lucifer, of course, was also there, seated between them in the next row back. He slouched lazily in the pew, rolling his eyes at all the ‘Amen’s and the ‘Lord have mercy’s.

As far as Ella was concerned, church was a private affair, and she couldn’t help but disapprove of his presence. She managed to catch him alone as they were filing into the church and express her displeasure to him, to which he replied, “As I’ve told you before, Ms. Lopez, churches are unexpectedly violent places. You never know when something’s about to go down. Now, after you.”

Of course, Ella couldn’t make her complaints known to empty air in front of Chloe and the surrounding worshippers, so she settled on glaring at Lucifer disapprovingly at every possible opportunity. He merely smiled and waved at her.

“Hello, everyone. Welcome to Sunday Mass. For those who don’t know me, I am Father McMaster,” said the priest after taking to the pulpit in front of the congregation. “Father Alvarez is unfortunately home with flu. Let us pray for his good health.”

“Aw, that’s a shame,” whispered Ella. “Father Alvarez is super sweet. Father McMaster is more of a stick-in-the-mud.”

“We will begin with a reading from the Book of Genesis,” Father McMaster continued, placing a pair of wired spectacles on his face and leaning forward to read. “ _Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?’_ ”

Oh no, Ella thought to herself. She looked back at Lucifer, whose lackadaisical attitude had become sharper and more focused. Oh shit, what are the odds?

Father McMaster continued reading through the story of The Fall, finishing with, “ _Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman said, ‘The serpent deceived me, and I ate.’_ ”

Ella glanced worriedly between her two guests. Chloe appeared to be listening with rapt attention. Lucifer was frowning heavily, his shoulders bent inwards and his arms crossed.

“An interesting fact, my friends,” Father McMaster was saying. “Over 60% of modern Americans do not believe in a literal Devil.” He pulled off his glasses and looked around at the congregation. “How very convenient it is for him, then, to tempt those nonbelievers, just as he tempted Eve. After all, how are they to know they are being tempted if they don’t believe in the serpent that tempts them?”

Ella risked another glance back at Lucifer. His expression could be described as somewhere between distressed and enraged. “Hey, uh, it’s not usually like this,” Ella murmured. She wasn’t sure if she was talking to Chloe or Lucifer.

“Be advised, my friends. Satan _is_ real and he is neither a great power nor a mere metaphor. He is a real creature of God and his sole purpose as he walks this Earth is to cause grave injuries – of both a spiritual and physical nature – to all men and nations.”

That must have been enough for Lucifer because at this point he leaned forward and said “I most certainly do not!” in a very _loud_ , very _strident_ tone. All of the nearby parishioners turned in his direction.

Chloe pitched forward, a strangled gasp escaping her lips. She leapt to her feet and quickly started side-stepping down the pew, heading for the church’s exit doors. Ella whipped her head frantically between Chloe’s retreating figure and Lucifer, who sat hunched in on himself, avoiding any and all eye contact.

“Hey, I’m just gonna, uh, yeah…” Ella said to Lucifer and then, before she could give it any more thought, got to her feet and started following Chloe’s path down the aisle.

She found Chloe leaning against a wall in the church’s antechamber, eyes closed and breathing heavily. Ella slowly approached her.

“Hey, Chloe, are you…?”

“I’m such a hypocrite!” Chloe said unexpectedly.

“Uh, okay…”

Chloe gestured wildly with her hands. “I mean, what am I even doing here? He _always_ said the stories got him wrong. But I just want to understand, you know? But I also _don’t_ , at the same time. Because it’s all so big and so much.” She pointed to her own chest. “ _I_ was the one who told Linda I needed space, but I didn’t expect him to just… ugh, disappear! Completely! Why does he do that?”

“Yeah, totally…” said Ella, trying to follow Chloe’s train of thought.

“And the instant he’s gone, what do I do? I go to the library and check out _The Divine Comedy_! And the King James! And none of it makes any sense. And maybe it would if I just talked to him, but every time I try to call him… or go to Lux… there’s just this big neon sign flashing in my head that says ‘Don’t do it, Chloe! Bad idea!’ So I guess that makes me a coward, too.”

“Hey, no. You’re, like, the total opposite of a coward. You’re the bravest person I know, Chloe,” Ella said, stepping closer into Chloe’s space.

Chloe dropped her head into her hands and shook her head. “You probably think I’m a complete nutcase. I’m even hearing his voice, now.”

“Trust me, Decker. I’m the last person to judge, even if you really _were_ hearing voices.” Ella placed a hand on Chloe’s arm, gently pulling her hand away from her face. “Have you thought that maybe… he’s just as nervous as you are?”

Chloe looked at Ella with narrowed eyes. “Do you…?” she trailed off.

Ella smiled sheepishly. “Catholic, remember?” she said. “Some things… aren’t so surprising.”

“Right…” said Chloe. Then she blew out a heavy sigh. “I think… I’m going to go home, Ella. Sorry, but, everything’s just kind of… a lot, right now.”

Ella cringed internally. Her voice wavered as she said, “No, _I’m_ sorry. This was a total bust, wasn’t it? I wish I could be more helpful.”

The corner of Chloe’s lips quirked. Her eyes were glassy as she said, “No… you did help. It’s nice just… talking about this with someone outside of… well. It helps. Reminds me I’m not going crazy.”

Ella smiled weakly. “You’re not crazy, Chloe. Sometimes the world is, though.”

“You’re telling me. So I’ll… see you later?”

“Yeah. Later.” Ella watched as Chloe took a deep breath, and then she walked through the church’s large double doors, her head held high.

Ella found Lucifer ten minutes later, a block away from the church. He was perched on the edge of the curb, cigarette in hand. He took a drag, blew the smoke into the sky, and then tapped the joint a couple times, flicking ash into the gutter.

“There you are!” Ella cried as she stepped into the street. She sat down next to Lucifer and placed her arms over her knees. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Lucifer didn’t reply. He just pursed his lips and rolled the cigarette between his middle and index fingers.

“Hey, are you still invisible?” Ella asked. Someone walking by and seeing her talking to a floating cigarette… it would be awkward, to say the least.

“No,” said Lucifer. He screwed up his mouth and flicked the cigarette into the road in front of him. He crushed it underneath his Oxfords. “Takes concentration. My sister was always better at it. I couldn’t keep it up, what with… everything, back there.” He motioned vaguely in the direction of the church.

A thought skittered across Ella’s mind at the mention of a ‘sister,’ but it didn’t land, and she let it be. She had more important things to worry about right now. “I’m _so, so, so_ sorry. I really am,” she said. “I wasn’t lying. It’s really not usually like that.”

Lucifer turned and gave her a wan smile. “That may be true, Ms. Lopez. Nevertheless, it oftentimes is for me.”

“You get a bad rap, huh?”

Lucifer sighed gustily and leaned back on his arms, staring up at the sky. “At this point, I think I might have _exactly_ the ‘rap’ that I deserve.”

Alarmed, Ella leaned forward and placed a hand on Lucifer’s shoulder. “Hey. Don’t talk like that. You know that’s not true,” she said firmly. “Listen, Chloe–”

“–is miles away by now, with the fear of the Devil in her? Yes, I know,” said Lucifer. He laughed a little, but it was without humor.

“No. She _isn’t_ ,” said Ella, squeezing his shoulder. “I don’t think she believed any of that crap.” She ducked her head in shame. “I really, _really_ thought this would help. Bring her some clarity, you know? Not… ugh.”

“Ms. Lopez…”

Ella shifted so she had her arm wrapped around Lucifer’s waist in a one-armed hug. After a moment, Lucifer returned the gesture and they sat shoulder to shoulder.

“I guess it was a lot easier for me, since I already believed all this stuff,” said Ella. “But Chloe’s been dumped into a whole new world, you know? It’s scary.”

“A lot of people are scared of me, yes.”

“No! I don’t mean _you_ , Luce. I mean… it’s scary when things are happening around you and you don’t understand why. And you _want_ to understand, but no one believes you when you tell them. It’s… isolating. It feels like it’s you against the world, except the world doesn’t make sense anymore.”

Ella looked up at Lucifer and found him staring back at her, his eyes wide and dark. “Perhaps _you_ should talk to the Detective,” he said. “You could tell her–”

“Nope. No way,” said Ella. “I don’t want to misrepresent you any more than I already have. No, you’ve got to do the talking, buddy.”

“Ms. Lopez, this wasn’t your fault…”

“No, it really, really was. Look, I know Chloe said she needed space, and you want to give her space, but maybe space is the last thing you two need right now. I mean, look at you. ‘Protecting her,’ my ass. You just want to be around her without all the awkward conversations that need to happen first. Am I wrong?”

Lucifer pulled away and sighed. He placed his elbows on his knees and rested his forehead on the heels of his palms. “Perhaps you’re right, Ms. Lopez,” he said.

“Hey, that’s the spirit.” She gave him a couple pats on the back. “So, are you going to cut the Invisible Man schtick tomorrow?”

“No…” Lucifer said slowly. “No… I… I need… time. To figure out what I’m going to say. There are… a lot of things she should know. Not much of it will make her happy.”

“You’re stalling, bud.”

Lucifer snorted. “Yes. Well. Maybe I am. But still.”

After a few moments of silence, Ella sighed and rose to her feet. She offered her hand and pulled Lucifer up as well.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow?” Ella asked. “And by that I mean I’ll be the _only_ one to see you…?”

Lucifer finally cracked a grin. “That does seem to be the case, doesn’t it?” He inclined his head towards her. “Until tomorrow, Ms. Lopez.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided to still keep this in the oneshot collection, just because technically the first chapter can stand on its own.
> 
> Also - to those who pointed out the creativity of the premise - I want to say that I didn't think of it! The prompt came from the Tumblr "luciferprompts" and the user who submitted it is called "that-just-sort-of-happened".
> 
> Apologies if I've butchered Catholicism. I am not Catholic.


End file.
